The Invisible Children

Invisible Children Logo

The Invisible Children is a nationwide group that uses videos and other media sources to give young people the inspiration and determination to help stop the longest running war in Africa.  The war in northern Uganda in Africa has been going on for the past 23 years.  This war in norther Uganda has presented an extreme danger to the citizens living in Uganda.  The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), led by Joseph Kony, has greatly impacted Africa and the lives of innocent civilians.  Uganda's government has tried several times to end the war and negotiate a peace treaty with the LRA, but every time peace treaties are about to be signed, Joseph Kony backs out and the war continues.  The troops of the Lord's Resistance Army are made up of children that were abducted when they were young and are forced to fight in the LRA.  If one of the troops tries to escape or rebels, they are killed.  That is the only reason that these children are fighting for the LRA, because their lives depend on it.  The LRA will abduct children while they are sleeping and force them to be troops in this army.  Children as young as 9 years old are being abducted from the homes and forced to fight in this army.  These young children are forced by the LRA to carry guns and fight against the people.  Could you imagine one night your peacefully sleeping at home, and all of the sudden you are being taken to some unfamiliar place and being forced to fight in an army?  

Abducted Children Forced to Fight for the LRA

The Invisible Children was founded by Jason Russell, Laren Poole, and Ben Keesey.  These founders were all interested in film making and media.  After graduating, they flew to Africa in search of a search of a story to document, not knowing about the war or how long it had been going on.  While in Africa they learned about the war and how children were being abducted from their homes while they were sleeping and being forced to fight for the LRA.  Since they founded the Invisible Children group in 2003, they have been working to make the world aware of this war.  They work to get volunteers to raise money to help with protecting the people in Africa from the LRA.  With the money that they raise, they set up radio towers that can help warn villages when the LRA is near so that they have a chance to escape.  The Invisible Children have worked with the United States government and the Government of Uganda to help raise awareness about this war and end this war as soon as possible.  The Invisible Children have made a huge difference in saving the lives of young children from being abducted by the LRA.  One of the ways that they raise money is by selling merchandise online and also by going to schools all across America and giving speeches to the students, asking them to help raise money to benefit northern Uganda.  


The Invisible Children help to make villages safer from the attacks of the LRA by creating a protection plan.  This five step protection plan includes: 

1. Protection of Communities
2. Encouraging LRA Defection
3. Providing Rehabilitation and Family Reunification
4. Post-Conflict Recovery
5. Promoting the Arrest of Joseph Kony and Top LRA Leadership

Founders of the Invisible Children Working in Africa

Protection of communities is done by extending the early warning radio network, launching mobile response teams, and also by creating an LRA crisis tracker.  The early warning radio network is something that the Invisible Children has provided to villages to communicate information and location of the LRA allowing villages to be aware of possible attacks and abductions.  Encouraging LRA defection is something that the Invisible Children does over the radio.  Through FM radio broadcasts the Invisible Children sends "Come Home" messages directly to members of the LRA.  Giving these members the information on how to safely escape the LRA and return home.  Invisible Children provides rehabilitation and reunites families with the help of trained counselors.  These counselors help children that have escaped the LRA to become reintegrated with their society and village.  Conflict recovery is something that the Invisible Children created to better educate the people who have been previous members of the LRA.  They are also fighting to find ways to capture and arrest the LRA leader Joseph Kony and other top LRA officials.   


Information for this blog was found on the following website: 
~ http://www.invisiblechildren.com/homepage